Toys and other devices that discharge projectiles with compressed air are well known, and are disclosed in several existing patents. By way of example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,375,607 for a “Toy Rocket Projecting Gun” issued in 1945 to Wulfert purports to disclose an air gun having upper and lower tubes with a small tube communicating air flow between the tubes. A piston and rod are movable in the lower tube and a projectile is loaded in the upper tube. When a handle attached to the rod is moved quickly to the rear, compressed air moves from the lower tube, through the small tube to the upper tube and launches the projectile. Ten years later, U.S. Pat. No. 2,725,868 for an “Air Gun” issued to Foster purporting to disclose an air gun with a barrel over a cylinder. The barrel holds multiple balls and a piston in the cylinder allows air to enter the cylinder when a handle connected to the piston is pushed forward. Compressed air enters the barrel and discharges a ball when the handle is pulled rearward. A rubber constrictor at the end of the barrel permits only one ball at a time to be discharged.
A year later, U.S. Pat. No. 2,762,356, issued to Foster for a “Repeating Air Gun” purporting to disclose an air gun operating like the air gun in his earlier patent, but where the cylinder and piston are located in a gun stock behind the barrel. U.S. Pat. No. 3,765,396, issued in 1973 to Klenholz and Lohr, entitled “Air Guns” and purports to disclose aligning a barrel with a cylinder and includes a side opening for loading. Pushing a handle attached to the barrel forward brings air into the cylinder and pulling the handle rearward launches a ball. A resilient sleeve at the forward end of the barrel meters the discharge of one ball at a time. In 1992, U.S. Pat. No. 5,113,842, entitled “Rapid fire ball Launcher,” issued to Moormann and purports to disclosed an air gun where a barrel is aligned with a cylinder and one ball at a time is launched every time a handle connected to a plunger in the cylinder is moved back and then forward. A year later, a U.S. patent issued to Webber, U.S. Pat. No. 5,267,549, entitled “Air-Powered Toy Gun” purports to disclose an air gun having two barrels, one over the other, and a cylinder behind the barrels with a piston connected to a handle. When the handle is pulled back a ball in one barrel is fired and when the handle is pushed forward a ball in the other barrel is fired.
In 1994, U.S. Pat. No. 5,292,134, entitled “Ball Catching and Launching Toy,” issued to Schlundt and others, and purports to disclose a device that includes a barrel and aligned cylinder and a cup-like head portion at the end of the barrel. The head portion is used for catching a ball, and the ball is secured in the barrel when a handle connected to a piston in the cylinder is pulled rearward, and the ball is fired when the handle is pushed forward. A 2007 published U.S. Application, No. 2007/0034197, for a “Rapid-Firing Projectile Launcher” listing Tschech as inventor, purports to disclose a fixed multiple barrel device with a piston and aligned cylinder arrangement, where a handle connected to the piston draws in air during a back-stroke and compresses air during a fore-stroke to discharge a projectile. A rotatable diverter directs the compressed air to one of several inlets sequentially with each back and forth stroke of the piston. In 2011, U.S. Pat. No. 7,938,110, entitled “Ball Launching Device,” issued to Udwin and purports to disclose a compressed air device that includes a barrel tube with a restricted barrel end portion for a ball and an aligned second tube having a sealing ring that acts like a piston. Pulling the second tube rearward allows air to enter the barrel tube, and pushing the second tube forward compresses the air until the ball is discharged.
These patents and application and the devices disclosed are of some interest, however, they do not teach a compact and robust air gun with a two tube configuration where one tube is mounted around the other tube, where there is no relative movement between the two tubes.